by Jana Leigh
Mak shook his head. “Really? And you went there.”
Hope grinned. “Hell, that was tame, can you imagine what Lexie would say?”
Sienna smiled. “She would quote the statistics on water wheel accidents.”
“Did you know…” Gio said slowly.
They all laughed and then Axel said slowly, “Okay, so I’m going to the Drake compound? Do you know if my parents got there yet? They were supposed to be there.”
Hope stared at him and then said, “Not that we are aware; however, if they are there, we will make sure you find them.”
Axel nodded and said, “Let me gather some of my things up.”
As he left the room, Gio said quietly, “We should let them know about him being a white wolf. I don’t know about you guys, but the only ones I have ever seen are Jo and Fredi. How in the hell did we not know about him?”
Hope was quiet for a second and then she said, “Well if I were to guess, it would be because of the wars and then because of the spell.”
Mak paused and then he said, “Before we take him back, let me go speak to Quin and the others. I’m not sure right now what is the best move with all of this.”
Hope nodded and looked at Gio who said, “I will remain here and work on the plans for getting Phoenix safe.”
And with a flash Mak and Hope were gone, leaving without Axel and left Sienna standing with her mates and Gio, who clapped his hands together and said, “Where is a map?”
Mak walked into Quin’s office without knocking, Hope was behind them, and everyone froze when they saw the look on their faces. “What the fuck now? I swear to the gods, every single time we turn around something else fucking happens,” Tey snapped.
Hope smiled and said, “Uncle Tey, this is a good something, at least we hope this is a good something.”
None of them noticed that the door didn’t close, and none of them saw Cami and Jo standing there ready to knock, but they had stopped when they heard Hope speaking.
“Did you fall asleep again?” Sol asked dryly. “I mean, so far, no one else has died that shouldn’t have like the last time you changed something in the past.”
Cami looked at her best friend and held up a finger to her lips, telling Jo to be quiet. Jo nodded and then leaned forward to listen.
“It’s hard enough keeping this from our mates as it is. Soon we won’t be able to,” Quin said softly. “But moving on, Mak, Hope, what’s going on?”
“We just came back from the cave,” Hope said, and Lagon smiled and nodded.
“Is all of my treasure still there?” he asked, and Hope chuckled.
“Sorry, Uncle Lagon, we didn’t look. Anyways, Chase called you about Axel?”
Quin nodded. “Jean Paul and Sarah are in town, have been for a while now.”
Hope replied, “Did you know Axel was a white wolf?”
Jaden looked at Quin, and he was the one who answered, “No, we didn’t, we knew they had a son, but the wars and us going into hiding, everything slipped by.”
Tey sat forward, and he said, “What was it they said when Jo was discovered? That white wolves are usually from royal lines, there were three…”
“My family, Jo’s, and Braden’s are the royal families,” Quin said slowly, and everyone nodded. “I’m not sure what this all means. I can have Jean Paul and Sarah come here, maybe we can put our heads together to figure it out.”
“I don’t know either, but Axel is a white wolf, and they are rare. The Drekinn would greatly benefit from having one in their pack,” Tey said slowly, but something was still bothering him. “There is something else, something we’re not putting together here.”
“Everything is a fucking puzzle!” Jaden snapped and stood. “We have so much shit going on, with Chosen dying, the past being changed for the worse, the future being just as bad. I don’t know how much more we can all take.”
Quin stood, put his hand on his mate’s shoulder, and he said, “We will figure this out, we are the Chosen. Therefore we will not stop until we make this right. The future will be what we want it to be.”
Lagon nodded and said, “We need to bring the white wolf here, to protect him.”
Mak turned and smirked. “I don’t think he needs protecting, he is an alpha male as well. The power was radiating off him.”
Hope sighed and said, “I agree, he should come here, but still, with his power, it would also be nice to have someone like him to go after some that have been captured.”
“Who? When did this happen?” Devon snarled and the rest of the males in the room tensed.
“Chase called when they were interrogating the Ulfer they captured. He said they had already caught Phoenix and delivered her to a facility in Texas. Cass and Marcus have already made plans to go get her. But there are more facilities and none of us know exactly who they have and don’t have,” Mak said slowly, and the room erupted.
Lennox stood and growled at his friends, “We will go get her now.”
Hope held up a hand. “They are already preparing to send Nik, Simon, and Philip. Mak, Gio, and I will also be their backup. Chase, Cameron, and Sienna will be doing the planning and reconnaissance on the facility. We will get her back.”
Briar growled as well and held up a hand. “They will discover she is part firebird.”
“Which is why they will not kill her,” Mak said softly, and Lennox tensed and wanted to yell. They had his child and considering what they had done to Jaden and the others, didn’t sit well with him. But they couldn’t chance they would kill her rather than them rescuing her, which wasn’t something any of them announced.
“I am going,” Lennox said firmly and Briar nodded. The men at the table sucked in a breath. All of them would do the same thing, no question.
Hope looked at Quin who sighed and nodded. No one would hold them back when it came to helping their children to safety. He looked at Hope and said, “Take them with you, I know we were going to stay out of it, but this changes everything. Everything is fucked up as it is, us sitting here waiting is not going to work anymore. I will speak to Marcus, they can concentrate on finding the scrolls, and we will work on getting our children here.”
Hope nodded, they had no choice. Knowing one of their own was in the Prentiss facilities had changed the ballgame. There were too many of the kids missing, and they could no longer wait for them to come to Drake on their own. They needed to get them here and soon.
“Go,” Quin ordered and looked around the table. “We will deal with what we need to do here.”
Cami and Jo looked at each other from outside of the office and Jo could see the anger swirling in her friend’s eyes. She motioned for her Alpha to get away from the door and follow her. It wasn’t until they reached a clearing far enough away that Cami released her anger.
“Those motherfuckers think they are going to hurt our children and get away with it. I am done fucking around with these ass pricks. And our mates are hiding things from us yet again. I swear they will never learn. We need to get to the others and tell them what is going on. Solei isn’t going to sit back and wait, they have her daughter. That is not acceptable,” Cami snapped.
“Okay, what are we going to do?” Jo asked, and Cami turned and looked at the shed.
“Call the girls, we are dealing with this shit, all of it. Apparently, we’ve been working in the dark here a little. But the time has come for a slight contingency plan because the gods know our men are going to do everything the hard way.”
Sienna sat with her mates at the table while they poured over the maps. Gio and Axel were exploring the caves again. There was a weapons room somewhere here, they just had to find it.
Cameron used a computer to look at the maps of the surrounding area where the Ulfer told them the facility was. They found it, of course it was marked something else, a government training facility. Once they checked into the property, they knew it was the Prentiss Agency. Cameron blew up the maps and printed them so they could see what they wer
e up against.
“So,” Chase said slowly and pointed at the map. “We can go here and here. Gather the times they switch guards and stuff, then, move to here, since this road is the only one we can see until we get there. I would assume it’s the way they come and go.”
Sienna nodded and then she looked around. Thank goodness she was a city builder, she actually knew some of the things they were looking at and pointed them out. “Okay, this building right here, they have labeled shipping area. There is no way that is a shipping area, there aren’t docks to back trucks up to. But if you look at the schematics of the building they submitted to the city, it shows the size of the area which is huge, the only way they could do that is to build down. So, this place is similar to the one you guys told me about. The one they found the Chosen at. They built these all the same it seems. All we need to do is figure out the layout, and we should be able to get in and out no problem.”
Chase shook his head. “After we destroyed the one by the Drekinn compound, they probably changed things up. I would assume their security was upped.”
Cameron pointed on the map and said, “Sienna, what do you think about just driving up and telling them you were here to inspect the safety of the buildings. Using your credentials, would they hold up?”
Sienna stared at her mates. They had been sitting here for an hour talking about this, and not one time did they ever question what she was saying. They listened to her and took everything she said into account as they planned. Everything she had never gotten when she was working—respect. She could see it in their eyes, hell, she could see the pride in their eyes as she talked to them, explaining things. Her mates, they were truly made for her. She didn’t get it until now. Even after they had claimed her, she didn’t get it, but now she did. They accepted her for who she was, everything without question.
“What?” Chase asked when she didn’t respond to Cameron’s question. She wanted to shake it off and continue, but she couldn’t.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and Chase and Cameron frowned and stared at her when they saw the look on her face.
“What for?” Cameron asked.
“Because you are treating me as an equal, as someone with a brain,” she replied.
Chase leaned forward and said, “Why are you thanking us for that? You are our mate, which means you are the one who is important to us. The gods made us for each other.”
Sienna nodded, and she leaned back. “I get it, I do, I guess I just didn’t believe it until now. I mean, our parents were made for each other as well. But I didn’t remember that until just recently, so I was going on what I experienced. That was my boss continually taking the credit for my work, and me being ignored. I guess I didn’t realize how much I needed someone to acknowledge what I do.”
Chase smiled and leaned over and took her hand, “Baby, we will always be your biggest fans, no matter what.”
Cameron nodded and touched her other hand, and he said, “Do not ever doubt that we see you for who you are and how special you are.”
Sienna smiled and realized that even the years she was alone, without knowing who she really was, none of it mattered because she found her mates. They completed her. Thinking about her family, her parents who she had yet to see, it was okay.
“I really wish we were alone right now,” Chase whispered, and Sienna grinned and looked at Cameron who was also looking at her like he would eat her for lunch if she said yes. She leaned around and looked down the hall. Axel and Gio were still absent.
“Well, maybe we need to take a break,” Sienna said.
Her men stood up as if to grab her, and Gio yelled. “Hey, do you guys remember where Lagon put the key to the safe?”
Chase looked up at the ceiling and said, “Cockblocked by a fellow vampire, so against the fucking code.”
Sienna laughed and shook her head and yelled, “I think it is in the kitchen hanging up, I will bring it.”
Chapter Fourteen
Later that night, Chase traced his finger over Sienna’s back as they talked about what they were going to do the next day. Hope and Mak had gotten back, and they had all been surprised when Lennox and Briar had shown up with the help of Dalton. However, when Trace and Shane landed on the ledge at the opening of the cave, Sienna saw them, and everything had gotten a little wacky.
Trace held out his arms and began walking to her. “Honey, it is so good to see you. Gods, I have missed you.”
Shane nodded and joined his mate, opening his arms as well, neither of them picked up on the tension that was oozing from her body. “You look just like your mother,” he said.
Trace reached her first and pulled her into his arms. “You have grown up so much, I can’t express how proud we are of you.”
Shane pushed his mate aside so he could hug his daughter as well, then he scented it. Shane pulled back and glared at Chase and Cameron. “Trace did you know she was mated already?”
“Already? Wait, why didn’t they ask for permission?” Trace growled and Shane nodded. Both Chase and Cameron stood there stunned and looked at Sienna who was shaking her head.
“Uh,” Chase said and Trace snapped at him.
“Nope, not happening, you do not have our approval.”
“Hell to the no,” Shane said. “Why were we not informed of this?”
At first, she was happy to see her fathers, but then she remembered what they had done to her and the other children, and she had snapped. Suddenly speaking in her mother’s native tongue, she told them off. Neither man could get a word in edgewise for about twenty minutes until Sienna finally ran out of steam and glared at them.
Chase and Cameron were smart, all they did was sit back and watch, chuckling at the older Chosen shifting uncomfortably as their daughter yelled at them.
“Honey,” Trace had tried to interrupt. “We are your fathers, your mates need to be approved. I swear it was…”
Sienna held up her hand and snapped. “Don’t go there, Daddy, you guys should never have done this. You don’t get to pick and chose what we need to do.”
“We were protecting you, and will continue to do so,” Shane said smoothly, and Sienna turned and grabbed a knife from the table and threw it against the wall.
“Did you not train me? I could have taken care of myself,” she snapped, and Trace shook his head.
“Just like your mother, always thinking you were invincible.”
Sienna growled. “Sorry, maybe you shouldn’t have made sure I was trained so well.”
And on it went until they had made dinner and talked about the upcoming plan they had already set for the next morning. However, now they were incorporating everyone, including Axel, which they argued about as well. That had happened during dinner, though.
“I’m not going to Drake then,” Axel announced when Hope and Mak explained they were leaving right after they found Phoenix, to complete another task.
“Yes you are, we are taking you tonight,” Hope snapped, and Axel shook his head.
“Nope, they need as many hands as they can get, and since I am already here, I will help them out and then go to Drake, unless of course I am still needed.”
Mak growled, “Your parents…”
“Will completely understand. They wouldn’t leave you either if they were here. They would help, that is what I am going to do. My parents know I am alive and well, you told them, I assume.”
“We need you to stay that way,” Hope snapped, and Axel rolled his eyes.
“And I will,” Axel said and waved at the people around the table. “But I will not go and hide and wait to see if something happens. I may not be one of your Chosen kids, but I am an alpha, and I am going to help you.”
Hope looked at Mak who shrugged, and then Lennox leaned forward. “If you’re sure, we could use the help.”
Hope nodded and looked at Axel. “You realize we don’t give a shit if you are one of the Chosen or not. What matters is that the Prentiss are targeting us, I don’t want anyone e
lse to be a casualty.”
Axel nodded and smiled. “I would prefer not to be a casualty either, but I refuse to leave anyone in one of those facilities. I’ve heard the stories from others, and that wouldn’t be cool if I turned my back on them.”
Briar nodded and looked at Trace and Shane and said, “This should be fun.”
“You talking in that sexy language made me want to drag you into our bedroom,” Cameron muttered
“You like that?” Sienna muttered while laying on her stomach.
“Yeah, babe, we like that,” Chase whispered, and leaned over and kissed her shoulder.
“What do you like about it?” Sienna asked.
Cameron laughed. “Babe, when you find your mate, everything is fucking sexy, but hearing her angrily speaking in a foreign tongue, off the charts hot.”
Sienna rolled over, looked at them, and frowned. “You don’t think I was just being weird, I mean, I totally forgot I knew my mother’s language. It just kinda came out when I got mad.”
“Nothing about you is weird, how can you even think that?” Chase said, staring down at her seriously.
“I don’t know, I guess, I find it weird, it has been a long time, you know?” Sienna frowned.
Chase sighed, and Cameron turned her face to him. “Baby, you are you, nothing will ever turn us off you. I remember when we were young and you would try to teach us all your mom’s language so we could understand it when she was cussing. When we saw you again, it was one of the things that reminded me even back then that we were drawn to you. It makes it easier to admit how easy it is to love you.”
“You love me? Already?” she whispered, and her heart stopped.
Chase laughed. “When you hit that fucker on the back of his head while yelling at him, I knew then. But then, when we got here, and you remembered everything, the way you looked at us, it was, well, I don’t know how to explain it. You claimed us when you looked at us, it was in your eyes. Everything fell into place right then. And to be honest, that was the second time I realized I loved you. But, babe, that first time you came apart in our arms and fucking screamed our names. You owned us. You own us, we own you.”
